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Premonition

by
Caroline Kepnes
Thu., Mar. 15, 2007 3:48 PM PDT

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Review in a Hurry: What a premise: A housewife (Sandra Bullock) is troubled when her life is literally out of order. What a flop: The "explanation" is so out of left field that the story feels like a misguided first draft by a physics student.

The Bigger Picture: Premonition is a true C movie. It's what you get when you combine an A-list star (Bullock), a grade-A production value and a grade D plot. But plot is a profound word for what happens in Premonition, Bullock's second foray into time-bending cinema. Hint for Sandy: Lake House was strike one. This clunker's strike two.

Bullock seems bored, too, which is no wonder. Her character Linda Hanson is the perfect woman who has the perfect husband (bland Julian McMahon), home, health regimen and offspring. All this perfection is compromised when Linda starts to wake up each day realizing that time—for this one week of her life—is out of order. Oddly, she doesn't play detective so much as go about her life—jogging, chitchatting with her best friend—with a furrowed brow. Through a little light investigation work she learns that hubby has eyes for a hot blonde (Amber Valletta, who was put to far better use in the superior What Lies Beneath).

The biggest problem is that when Premonition finally picks up, it becomes thematically absurd and irrational. Linda's world is out of synch but she doesn't ever try to pull an all-nighter. Huh?

Premonition could have been Memento on estrogen. Instead, it's too poorly paced and ultimately too antifeminist to air on Lifetime.

I won't ruin the ending. Ittakes a surprising if unearned turn in the final act, and you'll leave the theater wanting to talk all about it. Yet by the time you get to your car, you will probably forget what you wanted to say. And that's the scariest thing about this "thriller."

The 180—a Second Opinion: Bullock can carry a movie, and you can't take that away from her. It's spooky, its unpredictable and somehow uplifting.

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